A System of Logic: Ratiocinative and Inductive, 7th Edition, Vol. I
John Stuart Mill · en
To a legitimate syllogism it is essential that there should be three,
and no more than three, propositions, namely, the conclusion, or
proposition to be proved, and two other propositions which together
prove it, and which are called the premises. It is essential that there
should be three, and no more than three, terms, namely, the subject and
predicate of the conclusion, and another called the middleterm, which
must be found in both premises, since it is by means of it that the
other two terms are to be connected together. The predicate of the
conclusion is called the major term of the syllogism; the subject of the
conclusion is called the minor term. As there can be but three terms,
the major and minor terms must each be found in one, and only one, of
the premises, together with the middleterm which is in them both. The
premise which contains the middleterm and the major term is called the
major premise; that which contains the middleterm and the minor term is
called the minor premise.
Syllogisms are divided by some logicians into three _figures_, by others
into four, according to the position of the middleterm, which may either
be the subject in both premises, the predicate in both, or the subject
in one and the predicate in the other. The most common case is that in
which the middleterm is the subject of the major premise and the
predicate of the minor. This is reckoned as the first figure. When the
middleterm is the predicate in both premises, the syllogism belongs to
the second figure; when it is the subject in both, to the third. In the
fourth figure the middleterm is the subject of the minor premise and the
predicate of the major. Those writers who reckon no more than three
figures, include this case in the first.
Each figure is divided into _moods_, according to what are called the
_quantity_ and _quality_ of the propositions, that is, according as they
are universal or particular, affirmative or negative. The following are
examples of all the legitimate moods, that is, all those in which the
conclusion correctly follows from the premises. A is the minor term, C
the major, B the middleterm.
FIRST FIGURE.
All B is C No B is C All B is C No B is C
All A is B All A is B Some A is B Some A is B
therefore therefore therefore therefore
All A is C No A is C Some A is C Some A is not C
SECOND FIGURE.
No C is B All C is B No C is B All C is B
All A is B No A is B Some A is B Some A is not B
therefore therefore therefore therefore
No A is C No A is C Some A is not C Some A is not C
THIRD FIGURE.